'Evangelism Outside the Box'

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses how Rick Richardson's acclaimed book, "Evangelism Outside the Box" took many by surprise. According to the paper, Richardson points out many flaws in the way evangelism is done in the contemporary church and proposes that society has changed, but that our idea of evangelism is still geared towards the generation before us.

From the Paper:

"Perhaps the greatest contribution of Richardson's work is that he asks the reader to step outside of their own mind and look at the message that is being sent from the perspective of the receiver. He asks the reader to consider their audience and how their message is actually received, instead of assuming that the message was received as intended. He points out that what one might think of as being helpful may be perceived as arrogance on the part of the other person. This is perhaps the book's greatest contribution to the field of evangelism.
Richardson feels that evangelism has transformed from a science to an art in the postmodern mindset. His work is theoretical in nature and explores evangelism from a sociological perspective. Richardson relates his theories on the postmodern mindset to how we should communicate the Gospel. Richardson uses the examples of John Wesley and the Wesleyan movement and Saint Patrick to support his thesis. "

Sample of Sources Used:

• Borg, M. Jesus: A New Vision: Spirit, Culture, and the Life of Discipleship (San Francisco: Harper, 1987), 199.
• Cook, A. Teaching Evangelism. WRS Journal 2;2 (August 1995), 25-28
• Johnston, TJ. Examining Billy Graham's Theology of Evangelism. Eugene, Ore.: Wipf and Stock, 2003.
• Marshall, R. Deathly Evangelism: Guilty of False Advertising. Available from http://users.aol.com/SemperRef/deathly.html
• Richardson, R. Evangelism Outside the Box. Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 2000.

More papers on 'Evangelism Outside the Box':

• Book Review # 47112 : "Church Growth, Christian Evangelism"
• Term Paper # 118384 : "Theology of Evangelism and the Wesleyan Way"
• Comparison Essay # 6454 : "Stepping Outside the Frame"

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